LA Times Crossword Answers 21 Jan 15, Wednesday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: C.C. Burnikel
THEME: Frontman … each of today’s themed answers start with a word that is a synonym of MAN:

64A. Lead singer, and a hint to the beginning of 17-, 25-, 39- and 51-Across FRONTMAN

17A. Well-worn, as comfy shoes BROKEN IN (giving “bro”)
25A. University of North Carolina city CHAPEL HILL (giving “chap”)
39A. Firehouse crews LADDER COMPANIES (giving “lad”)
51A. Relaxing soak BUBBLE BATH (giving “bub”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 7m 04s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Band aid AMP
An electric guitar, for example, needs an amplifier (amp) to take the weak signal created by the vibration of the strings and turn it into a signal powerful enough for a loudspeaker.

4. “Lohengrin” soprano ELSA
We’ve often heard the “Bridal Chorus” from Richard Wagner’s opera “Lohengrin”. It’s the tune to “Here comes the bride …”, which is played regularly at the start of wedding ceremonies as the bride walks down the aisle. In the opera, the “Bridal Chorus” is sung not at the start of the ceremony but afterwards, by the women of the wedding party as they accompany newlywed Elsa to the bridal chamber.

13. Saint-Tropez sea MER
Saint-Tropez is a town in southeastern France on the French Riviera. These days, Saint-Tropez is very much associated with the European and American jet set.

19. “Finito!” I’M DONE!
“Finito” is the Italian word for “finished”.

20. Stretches on the road LIMOS
The word “limousine” actually derives from the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes anyway …

21. Inventor Nikola TESLA
Nikola Tesla was born in Serbia, but later moved to the US. Tesla’s work on mechanical and electrical engineering was crucial to the development of alternating current technology, the same technology that is used by equipment at the backbone of modern power generation and distribution systems.

23. Director who sued Spike TV for using his name LEE
Spike TV was a 2003 relaunch of The Nashville Network (TNN) and was marketed as the first television channel for men. The station owners ran into trouble though as the director Spike Lee sued, claiming that viewers would assume he was associated with the channel because of the use of “Spike”. The suit was settled when Lee concluded that there was no intention to trade on his name.

24. British prep school ETON
The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders including David Cameron who took power in the last UK general election. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington, George Orwell, and the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming (as well as 007 himself as described in the Fleming novels).

25. University of North Carolina city CHAPEL HILL (giving “chap”)
The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill started enrolling students way back in 1795, making it the oldest public university in the country (the first to enrol students).

“Chap” is an informal term for “lad, fellow”, especially in England. The term derives from “chapman”, an obsolete word meaning “purchaser” or “trader”.

30. Lennon’s love ONO
John Lennon and Yoko Ono had a very public honeymoon in a hotels in Amsterdam and then Montreal, when they staged their famous “bed-in” for peace. In answering questions from reporters Lennon found himself often repeating the words “give peace a chance”. While still in bed, he composed his famous song “Give Peace a Chance” and even made the original recording of the song in the Montreal hotel room, with reporters present, and with a whole bunch of friends. The song was released later in 1969 and became a smash hit.

32. Door fasteners HASPS
The “hasp” of a lock might refer to more than one thing. The u-shape loop protruding from a padlock is often called a “lock hasp”, for example.

35. TV radio station WKRP
The sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati” was produced by MTM, the production company established by Mary Tyler Moore and her husband for the “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. “WKRP” was a successful enough show when it originally aired, but then became a blockbuster in syndication. It became MTM’s most-watched program, even outstripping the original “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”.

44. Shellac ingredient RESIN
Shellac is a resin that comes not from plants, but from the female lac bug that inhabits forests of India and Thailand. The resin is dissolved in alcohol and sold as “shellac”. Shellac is used today mainly as a wood finish, but it can also be used as a food glaze. Vegans, beware …

45. Insect egg NIT
A “nit” is the egg of a louse.

Lice are small wingless insects of which there are thousands of species, three of which are human disease agents. The three kinds of lice affecting humans are head lice, body lice and pubic lice. Most lice feed on dead skin found on the body of the host animal, although some feed on blood. Ick …

46. Not a pretty fruit UGLI
The ugli fruit is a hybrid of an orange and a tangerine, first discovered growing wild in Jamaica where most ugli fruit comes from today. “UGLI” is a trademark name that is a variant of “ugly”, a nod to the fruits unsightly wrinkled rind.

51. Relaxing soak BUBBLE BATH (giving “bub”)
“Bub” is American slang, a term used to address males, and is possibly a variation of bud.

56. Almost closed AJAR
Our word “ajar” is thought to come from Scottish dialect, in which “a char” means “slightly open”.

59. Pee Wee Reese’s number ONE
Pee Wee Reese was a shortstop who played his professional career with the Brooklyn and LA Dodgers. Reese is remembered not only for his skill on the field, but for his very visible support for teammate Jackie Robinson, who famously struggled to be accepted as the first African American player in the majors. Pee Wee Reese’s number 1 was retired by the Dodgers in 1984.

60. “Chasing Pavements” singer ADELE
Adele is the stage name of English singer Adele Adkins. Adele’s debut album is “19”, named after the age she was during the album’s production. Her second album was even more successful than the first. Called “21”, the second album was released three years after the first, when Adele was three years older.

“Chasing Pavements” is a 2008 song written and recorded by English singer Adele. Apparently, Adele wrote the song after discovering that a boyfriend had cheated on her. She met up with him in a bar, punched him in the face and then stormed out. As she walked down the road she asked herself, “What is it you’re chasing? You’re chasing an empty pavement”. I should explain that “pavement” is not the road surface in Britain, but rather the footpath.

62. Like a plum tomato OBLONG
The word “oblong” comes from the Latin “oblongus”, which means “somewhat long”.

66. Royal residence PALACE
Our word “palace” ultimately derives from the Palatine Hill in Rome, “Mons Palatinus” in Latin. The original “palace” was the house of Augustus Caesar, which stood on the Palatine Hill.

67. Apple product IPOD
The iPod is Apple’s signature line of portable media players. The iPod first hit the market in 2001 with a hard drive-based device, now known as the iPod Classic. Later models all use flash memory, allowing a smaller form factor. The smallest of the flash-based models is the iPod Shuffle, which was introduced in 2005.

70. Beantown hockey great ESPO
Phil “Espo” Esposito is a former professional hockey player who played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers.

In the days of sail, the natural trade routes across the Atlantic involved a lot of ships arriving in Boston directly from West Indies. One of the main cargoes carried by these vessels coming from the West Indies was molasses. An abundance of cheap molasses led to an abundance of baked beans in the port city, and all those baked beans gave rise to Boston’s nickname “Beantown”.

Down
5. Civil Rights Memorial architect LIN
Maya Lin is a Chinese American born in Athens Ohio, and is an artist and architect. Her most famous work is the moving Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Lin was only 21-years-old when she won a public design competition in 1981 to create the memorial. Although her design is very fitting, sadly Lin was not a popular choice for the work given her Asian heritage. As she said herself, she probably would not have been picked had the competition been judged with the knowledge of who was behind each submission.

The Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama remembers forty people who died over the years in the struggle for equal rights between the years 1954 (the year of the Brown v. Board of Education decision) and 1968 (the year Martin Luther King was assassinated). The memorial was designed by Maya Lin, whose most famous work is the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, D.C.

6. Will of “I Am Legend” SMITH
In the late eighties Will Smith was a successful rapper, but he ran foul of the IRS. When he was faced with an IRS-imposed penalty of $2.8 million he was close to becoming bankrupt. Fortunately, along came NBC with a proposal to build a sitcom around him, and “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” was born.

“I Am Legend” is a 1955 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson that tells of an apparent sole survivor of a pandemic. The survivor has to fight off zombie-like vampires who come out at night. “I Am Legend” was famously adapted into a 1971 movie called “The Omega Man” starring Charlton Heston, and then into a 2007 film using the same title as the novel, which stars Will Smith.

7. Sleep lab study APNEA
Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.

9. Wrapped cantina food TAMALE
A tamale is a traditional dish from Central America composed of a starchy dough that is steamed or boiled in a wrapper made of leaves. The dough is called masa, and can include many different ingredients including meat, cheese fruit and vegetables.

10. Baseball Hall of Famer Roush EDD
Edd Roush was a big hitter who played Major League Baseball, starting in 1913 for the Chicago White Sox. He jumped ship to the Federal League in 1914, a league set up to compete with the already well-established National and American Leagues. The upstart league only lasted a couple of seasons. When Edd Roush passed away in 1988 at the age of 94, he was the last surviving player from the short-lived Federal League.

11. Bad bacteria E COLI
Escherichia coli (E. coli) are usually harmless bacteria found in the human gut, working away quite happily. However, there are some strains that can produce lethal toxins. These strains can make their way into the food chain from animal fecal matter that comes into contact with food designated for human consumption.

18. Hawaii’s __ Coast KONA
The Kona district on the Big Island of Hawaii is on the western side of the island. The largest town in Kona is Kailua-Kona. Kailua-Kona is often incorrectly referred to as “Kona”. The term “kona” translates as “leeward side of the island” in Hawaiian.

26. Gibson’s “Bird on a Wire” co-star HAWN
I remember watching the ditsy Goldie Hawn character on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In”. Hawn used to give great performances on the show, convincing everyone that she was the stereotypical dumb blonde. Well, what a great career she was to carve out for herself!

Mel Gibson is an actor who born in America, and not in Australia as many believe. Gibson was born in Peekskill, New York and moved with his family to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old.

“Bird on a Wire” is a fun film released in 1990, starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn. The movie title comes from the Leonard Cohen song “Bird on the Wire”.

28. “__ Will Be Loved”: Maroon 5 hit SHE
Maroon 5 is a rock band from LA. Most of the band members met in high school where they formed a garage band called Kara’s Flowers in 1995. The band reformed as Maroon 5 in 2001 and were a big hit almost straight away. Personally, I’d never heard of them until they cropped up in a crossword …

31. “You wish, laddie!” NAE!
Nae is the Scottish vernacular for “no”.

34. Usher’s creator POE
“The Fall of the House of Usher” is perhaps the most famous short story by Edgar Allen Poe, first published in 1839. The story is a Gothic tale, an interview with Robert Usher in his house which literally “falls”, breaks into two and is swallowed up by a lake. Some believe that the story was inspired by events at a real Usher House that once stood on Boston’s Lewis Wharf. When the Usher House was torn down, the bodies of a man and woman were found embracing in a cavity in the cellar, a fact reflected in the story as Robert Usher’s sister is supposedly buried alive in the crypt.

36. Nickname for LeBron KING JAMES
Basketball player LeBron James seems to be in demand for the covers of magazines. James became the first African American man to adorn the front cover of “Vogue” in March 2008. That made him only the third male to make the “Vogue” cover, following Richard Gere and George Clooney.

37. Outdoor gear brand REI
REI is acronym used by the sporting goods store called Recreational Equipment Inc. REI was founded in Seattle by Lloyd and Mary Anderson in 1938 as a cooperative that supplies quality climbing gear to outdoor enthusiasts. The first full-time employee hired by the Andersons was Jim Whittaker, who was the American to climb Mount Everest.

38. L.A. clock setting PST
Pacific standard time (PST)

40. Shellac DRUB
“To shellac” is a slang term meaning “to defeat decisively, to strike severely”.

42. “Wheel of Fortune” purchase AN A
Contestants have been spinning the “Wheel of Fortune” since it first aired in 1975.

47. Carom GLANCE
A carom is a ricochet, the bouncing of some projectile off a surface. Carom has come to mean the banking of a billiard ball, the bouncing of the ball off the side of the table.

48. Ibex resting places LEDGES
Ibex is a common name for various species of mountain goat. “Ibex” is a Latin name that was used for wild goats found in the Alps and Apennines in Europe.

50. Political cartoonist Thomas NAST
Thomas Nast was an American caricaturist and cartoonist. Nast was the creator of the Republican Party elephant, the Democratic Party’s donkey, Uncle Sam and the image of the plump and jocular Santa Claus that we use today.

51. Cartoon flapper BOOP
Betty Boop made her first appearance on the screen in 1930, in a cartoon called “Dizzy Dishes”. Her character was modeled on the the It-girl, the sexy Clara Bow of movie fame. Back then Betty Boop was a sexy poodle and it wasn’t until 1932 that she morphed into completely human form. Betty was quite the risqué figure, but her vampish ways only lasted a few years. When the Production Code of 1934 came into force, Betty started to dress more modestly and toned down her behavior.

Flappers were the so-called new breed of young women of the twenties. The flappers wore their hair short (with ringlets), dressed in short skirts and generally rebelled against the accepted norms of the time. The term “flapper” comes from the 1920 movie “The Flapper” starring Olive Thomas as a young woman who lived the more liberal lifestyle that was emerging at that time.

53. “Twilight” heroine BELLA
The reference is to a character (Bella Swan) in “The Twilight” series of books by Stephenie Meyer. “The Twilight Saga” is a series of films based on the books. “The Twilight” books feature vampires, and I don’t do vampires …

54. Michael Caine role ALFIE
There have been two versions of the movie “Alfie”. The original, and for my money the best, was made in 1966 with Michael Caine. The remake came out in 2004 and stars Jude Law in the title role. The theme song was performed by Cher in the 1966 movie, but it was Dionne Warwick’s cover version from 1967 that was the most successful in the charts.

There have been only two actors who have been nominated for an Academy Award in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s. One is Jack Nicholson, and the other is Michael Caine. Caine is now known as Sir Michael Caine, as he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the year 2000.

55. U. of Maryland team TERPS
The sports teams of the University of Maryland are called the Maryland Terrapins, or “the Terps” for short. The name dates back to 1932 when it was coined by the the university’s president at the time, Curly Byrd. He took the name from the diamondback terrapins that are native to the Chesapeake Bay.

57. Tequila source AGAVE
Tequila is a spirit made from the blue agave. The drink takes its name from the city of Tequila, located about 40 miles northwest of Guadalajara.

58. Make one’s Fortune last longer? RENEW
“Fortune” is a bi-weekly business magazine that was founded by Henry Luce in 1930, just four months after the 1929 Wall Street Crash. “Fortune” is noted for its annual ranking of companies by revenue, especially the Fortune 500.

65. “Alley __” OOP
“Alley Oop” is a comic strip that ran for four decades starting in 1932. “Alley Oop” was drawn by V. T. Hamlin. The title character lived in the prehistoric kingdom of Moo and had a pet dinosaur called Dinny. Alley Oop also had a girlfriend called Ooola. I had assumed that Ooola’s name was a play on “hula hoop”, but that wasn’t invented until the 1950s (a kind blog reader informs me) …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Band aid AMP
4. “Lohengrin” soprano ELSA
8. High-priced STEEP
13. Saint-Tropez sea MER
14. Chicken (out) WIMP
15. Wildly impulsive MADCAP
17. Well-worn, as comfy shoes BROKEN IN (giving “bro”)
19. “Finito!” I’M DONE!
20. Stretches on the road LIMOS
21. Inventor Nikola TESLA
23. Director who sued Spike TV for using his name LEE
24. British prep school ETON
25. University of North Carolina city CHAPEL HILL (giving “chap”)
27. Fives and tens CASH
29. Clueless ASEA
30. Lennon’s love ONO
32. Door fasteners HASPS
35. TV radio station WKRP
39. Firehouse crews LADDER COMPANIES (giving “lad”)
43. Rural road sign silhouette DEER
44. Shellac ingredient RESIN
45. Insect egg NIT
46. Not a pretty fruit UGLI
49. Surprise for the taste buds TANG
51. Relaxing soak BUBBLE BATH (giving “bub”)
56. Almost closed AJAR
59. Pee Wee Reese’s number ONE
60. “Chasing Pavements” singer ADELE
61. English class lesson USAGE
62. Like a plum tomato OBLONG
64. Lead singer, and a hint to the beginning of 17-, 25-, 39- and 51-Across FRONTMAN
66. Royal residence PALACE
67. Apple product IPOD
68. Gift-wrapping time, often  EVE
69. Hinged entrances GATES
70. Beantown hockey great ESPO
71. Do needlework SEW

Down
1. Carefree pace AMBLE
2. Reason for a raise MERIT
3. Virtual coupon, briefly PROMO CODE
4. Farm ladies EWES
5. Civil Rights Memorial architect LIN
6. Will of “I Am Legend” SMITH
7. Sleep lab study APNEA
8. Looks pleased SMILES
9. Wrapped cantina food TAMALE
10. Baseball Hall of Famer Roush EDD
11. Bad bacteria E COLI
12. Science fair judges, e.g. PANEL
16. Orange coat PEEL
18. Hawaii’s __ Coast KONA
22. Some jerks SPASMS
25. Burn a bit CHAR
26. Gibson’s “Bird on a Wire” co-star HAWN
28. “__ Will Be Loved”: Maroon 5 hit SHE
30. Word with country or world OLD
31. “You wish, laddie!” NAE!
33. Writer on scrolls SCRIBE
34. Usher’s creator POE
36. Nickname for LeBron KING JAMES
37. Outdoor gear brand REI
38. L.A. clock setting PST
40. Shellac DRUB
41. Nitty-gritty PITH
42. “Wheel of Fortune” purchase AN A
47. Carom GLANCE
48. Ibex resting places LEDGES
50. Political cartoonist Thomas NAST
51. Cartoon flapper BOOP
52. Put away, as groceries UNBAG
53. “Twilight” heroine BELLA
54. Michael Caine role ALFIE
55. U. of Maryland team TERPS
57. Tequila source AGAVE
58. Make one’s Fortune last longer? RENEW
61. Counterclockwise arrow function UNDO
63. Cereal grass OAT
65. “Alley __” OOP

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